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Ordered the new wax to try, like was suggested, with the additive. My fingers are crossed, I will try to follow all the other suggestions and see if this starts working. Would sure make my life a little easier.

Just reread your post, Donita. You use a prewaxed picture? You dip it in wax first, before putting it in the mold? What keeps it from curling? Just noticed your picture, cute hurricane. I have always wanted to branch out to other things besides a picture, but the dang things started giving me fits.

Thanks for all the input. I may have to try another wax. That is interesting, about the temps. I usually check it before putting it in the pot, but never thought about after the pour. Or warming anything up first for it. I will certainly try all of it. Love the idea about turning them upside down, wonder why I never think of that stuff? The thing I am having trouble getting is why it changed. I have been making these for two or three years. I made a whole bunch of them one Christmas, several for the same person. They turned out good, once in a while a little bit would stick. Didn't use anything but stearic, going by the instuctions, 1343. But I just cannot get one to turn out. I have tried, thinking it must be some little something. And people of course want me to make them. I am too stubborn to give up. They are so cool when they work. The last couple I tried to grubby, glued the picture to the outside, grubbied around it. It was not the same affect. So, on top of this I had someone come in today that wanted to know if I could put a picture on a unity candle. Anyone know of some good directions for that? Have a few weeks before the wedding to play around with it. I think they furnish the pillar. Thanks again.

Thank you very much, DH is grating soap as I type. We will give them another 4 weeks, to be on the safe side.

Thanks, we aren't using them, just letting them sit until we grind them up. How long will these need to cure, after we rebatch?

Okay, I guess we will give it a try this week. I guess if it doesn't turn out, we aren't any worse off then before. Does the cure time have to start again? Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it. Yes, it is good that he admitted it, I have to remember that. But dang it sure has complicated things. He built bridges for 37 years, but he has a hard time getting a recipe right:rolleyes2 Not that I haven't pulled some boners myself. I did find out last night that the soap was made a lot longer ago then I thought. More like a month or longer. One batch was for a Bed and Breakfast that we made up special, switching them over from melt and pour to cold process soaps.

That is a relief to know. Would you add the missing oil at the same %? Thanks for the tip about the cutting up soap. You guys are awesome on here. I am very grateful for the people that spend time to answer questions such as this one:o

I know this has probably been covered many times, but after searching for about an hour, I can't seem to find the answer. My husband made 3 batches of 3# batches. After letting them cure about 3 weeks, he realized he had forgotten to add Olive Oil, (which should have been 10%). Can these batches be saved? Can we rebatch and add the oil? If it was one batch, probably would let it go. But 9 pounds of soap, ugh. I read everything I could find on rebatching, but couldn't find anything about adding a forgotten ingredient. I knew it couldn't be good when DH came out of the basement with a sheepish look, said he was probably getting fired:shocked2: I can't fire the guy, he works for nothing:cheesy2: I sure would appreciate any suggestions.

Yes, I have. I used to just put stearic acid in them, per instructions. Then added universal per tech support where I buy the wax. It didn't seem to help. Then I have went to nothing in the wax, still no difference. One time it will turn out, the next three times it won't. I can make two side by side, one will and one won't.

I am pulling my hair out. I make a hurricane candle that I embed the picture on the inside of the shell. http://www.candletech.com/photoembed/ I made these for a couple of years, no problem. I made about 60 of them. The last year and a half I cannot get these to come out to save my soul. The candle sticks to the mold, (I use 1343, with Stearic acid, and unniversal additive, as suggested by someone to help me, and spray the mold with mold release.) I have left them to sit a couple of days, I have put them in the refrigerator and the freezer. I thought I had water in my wax when it first started, because a lot of people were complaining about that. So I heat the wax up quite a bit to boil out any water in the wax. Any suggestions, or even a different technique. At this point I will try anything. TIA

Another vote for BCN Mulberry. Amazing. It will run me out of the house when I am burning it. Love that scent, also love Wildberry Zinger Tea also, different but both very strong and berry.

I second that about http://www.bayousome.com/white.htm, looks like they might just have what you are wanting, and their prices are decent on some things.

Well, this thread sure explains some things. I too have had a real issue with this on the glossy labels. I would think that the companies selling these need to be the ones figuring it out, or all of us send them back when they yellow. I am trying to get a large wholesale account, but with this yellowing thing it is interfering. I can't sell a product that does that. Doesn't matter how long it is on the shelf. Can't have a product whos appearance alters from light or air. How goofy is that? Our products do sit under lights, (duh, what store don't they?) Either in our store or in a store we sell wholesale to, or in a customer's home, what is the difference. I appreciate the efforts on your parts to resolve it, but I think their answer is pretty lame. I am going to contact them too, if we all flood them with complaints it might move them to help resolve it through the manufacturer. They have more clout then we do. These labels are faulty. Period. They need to go back to the drawing board and create a label that doesn't yellow. Instead of selling billions of them as if nothing is wrong. I am going to do the spray, but dang, I hate backing up to that again. And I don't think that looks very professional. I really like labelsbythesheet, but this is their main business. They need to resolve it, or stop selling the glossy labels. That is one of my biggest gripes in this business is raw materials. It seems like they never stay consistent. It is hard to make a great quality product when the raw materials are hit and miss. Phew, at least I feel a little better.

Do any of you happen to know where I can get my hands on a whole bunch of these really cheap? I had bought a bunch through containerandpackaging.com, but the ones I was using are discontinued. I need them really cheap for a volume account I have. I also use the 15-415 flip tops too, but I can find them. Just not the 1/2 oz ovals. I have googled till I can't see straight, went through all the sources I can think of. I would sure appreciate any suggestions.

just did a quick search, came up with this: http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/Tureen.html Then a link from there.

Bitter Creek North has a closeout Maple, that actually is pretty good and sure a good price at $9 a pound. It sure smells like a maple sugar to me.

We have only be soaping a few months, (which by the way we are both totally addicted) but one of the first ones we did that wasn't on the list was a Strawberries and Margarita, that is creamy smelling. Normally. The soap smells exactly like Play Doh. So we assumed that is the morph. Great soap, we are actually thinking of selling it as Play Doh soap for kids:D

Wow, thank you very much. Great information.

What an interesting thread. It really doesn't matter what the intent, good conversation came along anyway. I like to hear how people got into this, some fascinating stories. Maybe that would be a good thread?? We tell our story quite often, people seem interested from different groups. I think there is a fascination with hand crafted items that is starting to come back, after all the horror stories of 'made in China', (like that should have surprised any of us:) I was recently asked to serve on an entrepuenership information board. Heck, I have trouble even spelling the word, but love the concept. It is exciting to me, to be part of what America is really all about. A place that anyone can follow a dream, build a business, and find satisfaction in making something with our own hands. There is so much information out there to help do that, but unfortunately, not much money. When our web site is up and running, I will post a link on here. Any of us, even those that only make a few candles or any hand crafted product, should feel proud as artisans. Now, the down turn of that is that the craft has become undervalued, and it is extremely difficult to make a living at it. There are actually people trying to help out with that, from the government on down. If the government truly wants to support the heart of America, the small business person, they need to make some changes. In the last year, I have thrown my little bit of support toward trying to make that happen. One of the big push we have going on is convincing people to "buy local". Another one is called "regional buy in", which is trying to match up different businesses, for a supply and demand effect. I also am very involved in any local economic development. I would encourage that involvement, they help out wherever they can. They are going to sponsor an open house in our little shop, to help showcase what we are doing at the county level. Early February, to help Valentine's sales. Our economic director takes samples of our product around to different groups, promoting small businesses, she has become our biggest supporter. (Besides absolutely loves our stuff). We joined a little group that came up with a grant to make up and distribute 10,000 brochures about our little town, so we got free advertising, our little shop was one that was included. Didn't take any of our money, but a little time helping put it together. Okay, got carried away and off subject. Oops. Anyway, what probably helped us the most of anything that has happened, is local coverage in newspapers. Human interest stories. People actually read that stuff. The first article that was done on us, was read by a couple that had moved away years before but still received our little paper. They had opened a Bed and Breakfast in a larger city not too far away, and contacted us about 3 1/2 years ago. They mostly sell our bath products, (we make guest soaps for them), but do sell other items for us. They don't sell a lot, but the people that stay in their Inn are people that we would not come in contact with any other way, people that stay there that are involved in the large university and very large hospital. I struggled with the idea of even doing business with them, because it was more trouble then profit, but if I hadn't, the much larger sales I would have missed out on. Actually, our largest wholesale account came out of that, that keeps us going on the smaller retail side. We have literally done thousands of dollars of business with them this last year, although the Bed and Breakfast only a few hundred. The old advice, treat every sale as a $10,000 sale, is probably the best advice we ever received. We do do this full time, but only because we are retired from paying jobs. I had started the business a couple of years before I retired, my husband joined me a couple of years ago after he retired. We both love it. We have spent tons of money to build it up, don't see much cash flow out of it, but we both love the challenge. Granted, around Christmas we were exhausted and frazzled, but we finally starting seeing daylight that this thing actually just might make some money instead of draining us. Word of mouth has finally taken off enough to give us a healthy retail November and December. But we have really busted our b*tts to get it rolling. We have about 4 different avenues for sales, finally had two successful fundraisers in November. We went back to doing craft shows, even did two big fairs last year back to back to get exposure. At the fairs we handed out tons of samples and pamphlets, plus sold a bunch of product. Retail is still our smallest income, which we are working very hard to improve. We also got hit with some very severe weather about every weekend starting in November. Ugh. So we didn't see the response that we had hoped from other towns, but did hear that people tried to come and see us, but couldn't make it. One of the things I did do, was helped put together a group of business owners to promote a Main Street Open House. We did a ton of promoting, but severe weather forced us to cancel. We got the ball rolling though, and that group is meeting soon to start another promotion. My big push early this coming year is web sales. We live in a very rural area, which presents some big challenges. Increasing the web sales is vital to bring in sales that just aren't going to happen by coming in to our little shop in our little town. We have been working on a new web site for several months, (having a hard time to do all this). I want to get it finished before doing marketing for the web site. So that is my first priority, (after finishing up inventory, that is). In a time when customer service has completely disappeared at large stores, we have a big advantage. Quality. Personal service, customizing, making a product that when people use it, they say, wow, I really like that. Or even better, I love it! That is the pay off, when people come in and say how much they love the product, we always say, then tell your friends. We may not have a ton of customers, but I always say the ones we have are the best in the world. The best part of the Christmas sales were people coming in that received our product as gifts and rushed in to buy for other people, because they loved the product that much. Big compliment, and hopefully enough to get us through the tough times, when we start doubting ourselves. This is not a business for woozes. I think though it tugs at something inside of us, the creative, up for any challenge, part of any of us. Jim and I can put in a 12 hour day, and honestly enjoy it. Not every day, believe me, some of those long days we are ready to lock the doors and sell it all on ebay. Other days we hit the floor ready to take on any challenge. Sorry for long story, I haven't had time the last few months to contribute on here, and believe me there have been many, many days when you guys were my life line, even though you never knew it. My inspiration, my 'bible', I absolutely could not have done this without these message boards and the people that give up their valuable time to contribute and share. Thank you.

I just wanted to add my praise for Elements. I have been buying from them for a couple of years and just really like everything about them. I love the containers they come up with, and the prices are usally very competitive. And fast shipping. I always get an anwer to a question quickly, too. If you haven't seen them, they have the cutest darn little 5 ml plastic jar. We have been putting creme samples in them, dropped them in two fundraiser orders. The reponse has been great, with very little expense. We carry a bunch around with us everywhere we go, and hand them out. They also have a 1 inch clear label that fits perfectly on them. When I had trouble getting the print on them, they were more than willing to take time to help me out. In a time that at least one of my main suppliers is switching to inferior product, or at least inconsistent quality, and seems to be getting too big for good customer service, Elements is refreshing.

Just thought I would throw this out, I have bought many of their containers. http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/Sampler-Sizes-c-122.html Very quick shipping, I have never been disappointed by anything I have gotten from them. The little 5 ml containers are really, really nice. I put cream in them, for samples.

You have got to be kidding me. Boy, do I ever do things the hard way. I am certainly going to try that. Thanks for all the information. I don't say much on here, but I honestly do appreciate all the help.

I also use the portion cups for the candles, but also starting using these mini tubes. I dip a Q-Tip in the scent, put it inside the tube and label it. Works well for bath products. Uses very little scent. http://www.elementsbathandbody.com/Sampler-Minis-pr-193.html

I bought these and really like them. And cheap too. They hold a bunch of votives. http://rochester.hostforweb.net/~candleco/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi

We did a small town craft show, first time at that one. The day was beautiful, the crowd was way down according to other vendors. We did well, for our first time. We are drumming up business for our little shop in a neighboring town, too, so we figure it is good advertizing. We were okay with it, of course we always want more.